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Thursday, 12 April 2018

Design Dialogues 2018

January, 18 Mumbai:The 4th edition of Design Dialogues organised by Washrooms and Beyond
Magazine was held on January 18, 2018 at Taj Santacruz, Mumbai, attended by
over 200 architects, interior designers, and allied professionals from across
the country.

Launched in 2014, Design Dialogues is an outcome of the
publication ´s annual thought platform for creative designers from India and
abroad. It has been more than just a gathering of information, disseminating it
among the architects and designers fraternity. A commitment to act as a
platform to instigate discussion around design, construction and urban
habitation issues facing the country and positively influence the industry as
an agent of change.

The first session of Design Dialogues began with the welcome
address by Sheital Shetty, Editor & Publisher of Washrooms & Beyond
Magazine. She said, “This year in design dialogues we have moved out of the
niche areas like bathrooms and kitchens to dwell into other subjects like lighting,
sustainable design, and surfaces amongst others. She also thanked the
architects and interior designers for their support.”

Anurag Yadav, Consulting Editor, Washrooms and Beyond said,
“Design is a field where even the best learn something new every day. Every
designer is a lifelong student of architecture and design in that sense and
welcome fresh ideas.”He appreciated the
positive response of the industry to the well researched and incisive content
of the publication and spoke about the Group’s publicationspurpose of focusing towards niche segments of
the design and construction of the industry. He also thanked the fraternity of
architects and interior designers for supporting this initiative.

Panel discussions

Panel discussions held on different topics proved very
insightful, educative, and informative.

1

The panel discussion
on “In the Light of hospitality-How guest experiences can be influenced by
Lighting,” was moderated by Yatin Pandya , Principal Architect &
Proprietor, Footprints E.A.R.T.H. He described light as a gift from nature and
as an a element that is also a reminder of time. He described light as a
celebration, an omnipresent presence and a cultural direction.Light is something that demarcates spaceand creates rhythm, scale manipulation, and
perception of depth. Light enhancescolours manifestation in many ways.

Kapil Surlakar, Founder and Director of Light@Work Design
Consultants Pvt. Ltd said , “Choosing the appropriate lighting system for each
area is a challenging task. In India, there is a challenge of using the natural
light perfectly along with artificial light, which can influence guest's mood
and hotel's atmosphere. The concerns of lighting include expenditure and if
spent correctly for the right kind of lighting in a building it can do wonders
to business bottomline. Lighting should be versatile and adaptable to meet
every expectation of guests and value to design.”

2

In the panel discussion on, “Rethinking Surfaces – the
choices between glitz and elegance,” one of the panellist, Suhas Nalawade,
Principal-design cell, STELLAR design studio said the approach towards the
projects should not be deciphered as A, B and C. A becomes the plan, B becomes
the elevation and C becomes the material. It has to be looked in its entirety
as a package. The whole approach should start with an idea case that is
specific and differs from the residential to commercial architecture. Surfaces
should not be treated as a separate objective, it is an object by itself.”

3

The third panel discussion on Sustainable Design – Cost Vs
Benefit was moderated by Nitin Saolapurkar, Principal Partner, Saolapurkar and
Associates. He said sustainability is practised by most either knowingly or
unknowingly in most of the architecture projects. Sustainability requires a
very integrated design approach where a building or project requires being
sustainable where all the promoters and stakeholders come together and work out
on a cost for a sustainable solution to the project. It also means the optimum
use of the energy in the environment, reuse of the wastage for the building and
for particular purpose.

The session threw up new meanings and definitions of
sustainability as designing for the present needs consideration of material for
the future. In sustainability today the focus is on the building. The panelists
were of the opinion that there should be keener focus onpeople instead. How sustainability effects
people which should be the primary aim so different design options could be
churned out, opined Nejeeb Khan, Founder & Managing Director,
KGD-Architecture.

4

Renowned architect and academician N. Mahesh, ‎Principal
Architect of Iyer and Mahesh Architects moderated the panel discussion on
“Luxury washrooms – Does it hang on expense or design?”

The session threw up the idea that luxury is never simply
about how much money is spent. It is about the wise and comfortable use of
proportion and scale, meticulous installation, well articulated and unique use
of materials. “A dream bathroom goes hand in hand with a real lifestyle factor
that guarantees a higher quality of life. it’s all about feeling which comes at
an expense and cost providing comfort and elegance, cannot marry everything
here,” saidSiraj Hasan, Principal
Architect, Siraj & Renu.

Bandna Singh, Director & Partner, Positive Axis said ,
“We have to look at context, location and social situation of the building and
itsusers. The definition of luxury
bathroom in Chandigarh could be 15’X20; bathrooms, whereas in Mumbai even a
7’X10” area could be all luxury. Luxury is basically about wellness. The size
of the house, the element of natural light – all adds to the overall ambience
of the washrooms. Luxury is not only about outward appearances but
environmentally it has to be sustainable and energy efficient to be rtuly worth
the definition.”

Rupande Shah, Founder, & Principal Architect, Rupande
Shah & Associates said this term luxury has become very popular in
bathrooms. It comes with a certain cost and having said that as responsible designers
we have to concentrate on the aesthetic element of space rather than sheer
wastage of natural resources.”

Sponsors

Crompton and WATERTEC were the Gold Associate Sponsors for
the event.

Design Dialogues 2018 proved to be an exciting cerebral
churning for the professionals involved in it. The audience participated
actively came forward to freely share their ideas, suggestions, and creative
inputs in the question and aswers tim after each session.

This year, Design
Dialogues again enabled a coming together of the finest minds from the designer
fraternity to present, share, and discusses a large canvas of professional
inputs and experiences.